Some People are Hearing 'Yanny' and Others 'Laurel' In This Audio Clip (trunc)

Time ^ | May 16, 2018 | CASEY QUACKENBUSH

[Jane Long]

There’s a new debate storming the internet that’s reminiscent of the furor over that white and gold dress back in 2015 (or was it blue and back?) People are torn over an audio clip of a computer-generated voice, with some listeners saying they hear the word ‘Laurel’ in a deep male voice, and others saying they hear ‘Yanny’ in a higher-pitch. The recording went viral after it first surfaced on Reddit earlier this week. It was later posted on Twitter, where it has been liked more than 50,000 times and stoked a fierce debate.....

[GOPJ]

I’m guessing this has to do with what frequencies our ears hear... Hearing loss isn’t just a ‘quieting’ it’s some sounds weakening over others. If this is AI at work it’s totally spooky.

[savedbygrace]

[21twelve]

I was reading an article about this sound bite. I thought that it was designed to be a audio trick. The article (if one can believe it) said a grade school student (gave her name and school) didn't know what the word “laural” meant, so she went to some online dictionary that gives the audio pronunciation and the meaning. She heard “yanny”. She shared it with friends on snapchat or something, was picked up by a friend that shared it on Facebook, and then it went viral.

The dictionary website person said they had hired 100’s (?) of Broadway performers to do the annunciation of the words. This one was done by one of the original performers in “Cats”. He has no explanation for why people are hearing “Yanny”.

And seeing as “yanny” isn't a word - he decided to make it one, and put it in his dictionary. He put it's meaning down as something about having a difference of opinion on the meaning of social internet posts (or something like that)!

[21twelve]

I LOVE it!!

[Heart of Georgia]

Yes I saw that earlier .. loved the comments from the staff, then President Trump heard covfefe! Very funny!

[savedbygrace]